To Protect: Drabbles
by Mustard Yellow Sunshine
Summary: He protected her. That's what he did. He'd protect her his entire life. A story told in a series of drabbles. [AU].
1. Chapter 1

He'd wanted to protect her from the first moment he met her.

He first saw her across the street from his favorite park, sitting alone on the curb of the opposite sidewalk. She was bent forward, hugging her knees to her chest, crying the only way a six-year-old knew how: loudly and without restraint. Ink-black hair curtained either side of her face, hiding her expression, but Inuyasha could see her shoulders shaking with sobs, and could hear every gulp and sniff and shuddering inhale from where he stood.

He'd just exited the park and was on his way home when he spotted her. He paused mid-step and glanced up and down the street, visually confirming what his nose had already told him: nobody else nearby, no concerned parent or sibling hurrying over. She was alone. His first impulse was to keep walking—he really needed to get home since he hadn't _exactly_ gotten permission to be at the park by himself, and he didn't much like or understand girls in general, forget _crying_ girls. Even so, something kept his feet from moving. A tug of concern. The sight of her sitting there, hunching in on herself.

Before he could think twice about it, he was crossing the street and approaching the girl, as slowly and cautiously as if approaching a wild monkey loose in the city. She didn't notice him. He hesitated a few feet away from her, wondering if he shouldn't just go find someone else, maybe a human, an adult—someone she'd be more likely to trust. He looked her over carefully. Her head was still bowed, her small frame still shaking with sobs that seemed so much louder and more distressing up close.

Frowning, and feeling distinctly at a loss, he slowly sat next to her on the curb of the sidewalk. No reaction. He shifted a tiny bit closer to her. Just more sniffling. His frown deepened. He briefly considered poking her arm to get her attention, but the thought alarmed him so thoroughly that he immediately dismissed it. What if his claws freaked her out? Uncomfortable with the idea of touching her in any way, but horribly unsure of what to say, he just sat next to her in silence, hoping the simple fact of his presence would somehow make things better.

But the longer she cried, the more and more nervous he became. The sound—and worse, the _scent_ —of her distress was beginning to distress _him_. She smelled so sad and so _scared_ , and he just wanted to make it go away.

"Oi," he barked, the word popping out of his mouth without thought, abrupt as a firecracker, "what are you crying for?"

With a jolt, her head whipped up and she turned to stare at him. Wide, teary grey eyes met his. Her face was round, flushed red, shiny-wet with tears, and her nose—small and blunted—was running. He wished he could give her a tissue.

"W-who," she hiccupped, "who are you?"

"I'm Inuyasha." He watched as she wiped at her eyes with a balled hand. "What's your name?"

She swallowed a sob. "K-Kagome."

"Kagome. Why are you crying?"

Her face tightened, eyes scrunched and lips pressed together in another repressed cry. "I—I'm lost! I can't find m-my," a sniffle, "my house. I don't know what to do."

He glanced around, more to break eye contact than to look for anyone. "Are you by yourself?"

She nodded, and fresh tears streaked down her face.

"Why? Isn't your mom or dad around?"

"No." Her chin trembled. "I wanted to play at the park, but Mama was napping and I didn't want to wake her up, so..."

"So you came by yourself?"

She nodded miserably.

"And now you can't find your way back?"

Another nod, followed by a sniffle.

He snorted. "That was stupid."

She looked startled at that, eyes widening, causing a few more tears to drop. "Huh?"

"It was stupid to leave your house alone. You're just a little kid! You shouldn't be out by yourself."

"Hey! I'm not little!" Her eyebrows lowered in a frown that made her nose crinkle. She sounded duly offended. "I'm _six_ now. And besides, _you're_ a kid and you're out alone."

Inuyasha lifted his chin and jerked a thumb at his chest. "I'm in third grade, okay? That's _two whole years_ older. _I_ can be out alone."

Not technically true, but she didn't need to know that.

He pointed his thumb in her direction. "But _you're_ just a little kid. You shouldn't be going anywhere by yourself."

She eyed him for a moment, expression caught between dawning awe at his advanced age and lingering annoyance at being labeled "little." Inuyasha noted with satisfaction that she had stopped crying, and the scent of her fear had thinned.

After a moment, her lips puckered in a pout, and she scrubbed at her face with a sweater-clad arm. "I'm _not_ little," she mumbled under her breath.

He snorted and intentionally flicked his right ear, saying _I can hear you_ better than any words could have. He immediately regretted it when her eyes were drawn by the movement, and she finally spotted the furry, triangular ears atop his head. He internally winced, bracing for what past experience dictated would be a disagreeable reaction... but her expression lit up as a smile stole across her face.

"Are those _real_?" she asked, voice almost awed.

He scowled, unsure if she was mocking him. "Of course they are! You think I walk around wearing—hey, hey!" He reared back, jerking his head away from the hands that were suddenly reaching up towards his ears. "Knock it off!"

"They're _so cute_ ," she breathed. Undeterred by his dodging, she leaned forward and stretched her arms out to full length, fingers grazing his ears even as he pulled away.

Flattening his ears against his hair, he scooted back along the curb and out of range. "Stop that!" She scooted after him, and he backpedaled even farther. "Ugh, you're like an octopus or something! Cut it out!"

She did stop, but then she clasped her hands in front of her chest and looked at him with imploring eyes. "Can I please touch them? Please, please, _please_?"

He opened his mouth with every intention of saying no, but the expression on her face stopped him. The traces of her earlier distress had evaporated: no sadness or fear laced her scent, her tears had dried, and her cheeks were rosy from exertion rather than crying. She looked almost excited, slate grey eyes bright as they watched him. Dumbfounded by the change in her demeanor, and caught by her gaze, he felt his face heat up in a blush.

He tried to say no, he really did—but how could he with _those eyes_ staring at him? Turning his head aside, he had to restrain a pout of his own. He was too _old_ to pout. "Fine, you can touch them." He glared at her from the corner of his eye. "But only for a _second_."

She squealed, and in the next instant her fingers latched onto his ears. His shoulders stiffened, hunching up around his neck, and he fought off the urge to jerk away again. He'd told her she could touch them, and he wouldn't go back on his word. But the only other times anyone—and _especially_ kids—had touched his ears, they'd been pulled and yanked and twisted and generally treated like they belonged on some kind of stuffed animal.

But her fingers didn't pull, or yank, or pinch, or twist, or hurt. They stroked gently along the back of his ears, thumbs lightly rubbing the inner edges. A soft touch, a pleasant sensation. With each stroke his shoulders lowered, lost their tension. She'd been touching his ears for much longer than a second before he finally shook his head and leaned back.

She was smiling at him in a way that had his face heating again. He scowled at her. "Happy now?"

She nodded, and dropped her head in a brief, polite bow. "Yes! Thank you for letting me touch your ears."

He stared at her. He couldn't help it. "Whatever. S'not a big deal, you don't have to thank me for it."

She just giggled and threw the furry appendages another glance. She looked about ready to lunge at them again, and Inuyasha fidgeted. He cleared his throat and said, "So... do you know your home address?"

He almost regretted asking when her face fell at the reminder of her predicament. "No. Mama told it to me, but I don't remember."

He thought about that for a moment. "How long has it been since you left your house?"

"Umm... I don't know."

He sighed. Then, catching sight of the bus stop near the park entrance across the street, he pointed at it and asked, "How many times have you seen the bus go by?"

She looked to where he pointed and paused to mull it over. "I'm not sure... maybe three times?"

About 45 minutes then, maybe longer. Not nearly long enough for her scent trail to fade. "I think I can help you get home."

She stared at him blankly. "What? How?"

He tapped a finger against his nose. "I have a good sense of smell. I can follow your scent back to your house."

She tilted her head, tone puzzled. "My scent?"

He shrugged. "Sure. You smell like... well, you. Everybody's got a unique scent. If I can pick up your trail, I can probably track it back to your house."

She still looked confused, but she seemed to understand the gist: he was going to help her. Her expression brightened. "You think so?"

He rolled his eyes, but the corner of his mouth lifted in a tiny grin. "I just said so, didn't I?" He stood up and she followed suit. "Come on, let's get you home."

All told, it took him less than half an hour to find her house. Her scent trail was faint where other pedestrians had diluted it, and extremely strong where she'd probably been wandering in circles—but eventually he followed it to the entrance of a shrine. A massive _torii_ gate loomed over an equally massive flight of stairs. As soon as she caught sight of the _torii_ , Kagome squealed in pure glee. "You did it, you did it!" She sped up, skipping towards the gate and chanting "you did it" as she went.

She stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned to face Inuyasha as he approached. She bent forward in another brief, obviously well-practiced bow. "Thank you for helping me! I never would've found my way home without you."

Inuyasha eyed the _torii_. "You... live at the Higurashi shrine?"

She nodded.

His expression deadpanned. "Why didn't you just _say_ you lived at a shrine?" He knew this neighborhood backwards and forwards—he could've found the place in no time if he'd known.

That gave her pause. She tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully. "Uhh. I guess I didn't think about it."

He sighed in exasperation and rolled his eyes. "Well, you're home now. You should get inside before your mom worries."

She smiled radiantly at him. "'Kay. Thanks again!" She turned and started to climb up the stairs; a few steps up, she paused and did an about-face. "I won't forget you, Inuyasha!"

"Whatever." He waved at her—a shooing motion more than a farewell—and started walking back towards the park.

The grin tugging at his mouth had nothing to do with her. Nothing at all.

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 **A/N:** I realize I'm sort of stretching the definition of "drabble," what with how long this turned out, but no other categories seemed to fit. Originally, I'd planned for this story to be a one-shot, but the scenes became so episodic that I figured it'd work better as a series of drabbles. Each chapter will vary in length—I expect some will be significantly shorter than this one—but they're all set in the same universe, and will tell Inuyasha and Kagome's story.

Please let me know what you think! Reviews give me life.


	2. Chapter 2

He protected her from gossip.

When Kagome first approached him at school—and what a surprise that had been, seeing her in the halls along with all the rest of the new first-graders—he was keenly aware of the other students watching them.

"Inuyasha!" she cried, sounding surprised and pleased as she weaved her way towards him through the throng of kids. "You come here too?"

The chatter and buzz in the hallway grew noticeably quieter.

"Uh," he replied, glancing around the hallway at the curious—and in several cases, disapproving—stares of their classmates. "Well, yeah. I mean, obviously."

"I'm so glad!" She finally reached him and he was taken aback at how delighted she seemed. Her smile was just as bright (and baffling) as he remembered.

Did she not see the other kids looking at them?

"Um," he said, "I—"

"Hey, maybe we could walk home together after school?"

Did she not realize they could _hear_ her? "Um..."

"Do you live near that park?" she continued, adjusting the backpack on her shoulders, totally oblivious to his hesitation. "If we both have to go the same way—"

It was getting quieter by the second, and now he could pick up scraps of whispers, reverberations of muttered comments through the hall.

— _they_ know _each other?_

 _Are they friends?_

 _She can't be—_

— _with that_ freak _?_

Both of his ears twitched simultaneously, as though they could dislodge the words now ringing in his head, somehow make them unheard. He knew that she wasn't aware of the stares or the whispers. And he knew something else too: she was teetering on a ledge, balancing on the sharp needle-point of their collective esteem. The other kids had assumed she was like them— _one_ of them—but this display was making them doubt. One more word to him and she could topple over the edge, fall straight to the bottom of their favor. With him. By the time she'd realized her mistake—and she would eventually, like everyone always did—it would be too late to fix. He had to do something.

"No," he interjected loudly. "I don't want to walk home together."

Her eyes widened, and her smile receded. "Oh. Well..."

He forced his voice irritable, mean. "Jeez, you're annoying. Haven't you bothered me enough? Leave me alone."

She flinched back. He saw the hurt collecting like storm clouds across her face, caught the telltale whiff of salt before he made himself walk away. Down the corridor, towards the stairwell. Before turning the corner to the stairs, he threw a furtive glance back over his shoulder. She stood alone, arms hanging limply at her sides, looking down at the floor. He wanted to go back, tell her it was a joke. But he knew what would happen if he did. Really, he was doing her a favor. If he went back, she'd just resent him in the end. They always did.

He didn't want that to be true of _her_.

He turned away and took the stairs at a run.

And that would be the end of it, he thought. By the day's end, she'd have figured out just why she shouldn't associate with him. The other kids would clue her in pretty quick. _Un-human_. _Half-breed. Dirty blood._ They'd forgive her for her earlier slipup— _just this once_ —she'd realize just what she stood to lose, and she'd never talk to him again. That time outside the park was a one-time-only deal.

Not, he reminded himself, that he particularly wanted to talk to her anyway. He was used to being alone. It was better that way.

He pretended that the twinge of disappointment in his gut was just an upset stomach.

The next day, during recess, he went straight to his usual spot—the maple tree planted in the corner of the schoolyard. This was an unspoken but universally-accepted arrangement on the playground: he stayed near his tree, the other kids didn't bother him, and he didn't bother them. Sometimes he watched the others play; usually he climbed up into the tree's branches and watched the sky until the bell rang. He'd just gotten settled onto one of the lower branches when—

"Inuyasha!"

He looked down into Kagome's smiling, upturned face. She stood at the base of the tree, one hand resting on its trunk, the other shading her eyes against the sunlight.

"Want to go on the swings?" she asked.

Was this girl stupid, or what?

With a huff, he turned away and stared determinedly up into the tree's foliage.

"Hello?" she said, sounding somewhere between uncertain and hopeful. "Inuyasha?"

He ignored her.

"C'mon, don't you want to play?"

He never played during recess. And she wouldn't, either, if she kept this up. Wasn't she paying attention to the other kids? They could _see_.

At his continued silence, she made a tiny noise of annoyance in her throat. "Quit ignoring me!"

He made the same noise back. "Quit bugging me!"

"Quit being mean!"

"Quit being annoying!"

"Quit saying that!"

"Quit—quit—arg, just _quit_ already!" With that, he leapt into a higher branch, the better to ignore her and reinforce the 'leave me alone' message she obviously wasn't getting.

He heard her huff loudly. "Fine! Be like that!" Then the soft rustle of clothing, followed by a muted thump. Surreptitiously, he sneaked a glance down at her. She was sitting on the ground with her back propped against the tree trunk. He eyed the shiny black crown of her head, streaked with dark blue highlights in the dappled light, waiting to see what she would do. After awhile, she started humming to herself, and it soon became apparent that she had no intention of moving.

She _was_ stupid. Or stubborn. Or both.

He frowned, shifting to face the foliage again. So maybe she hadn't figured it out yet. She would soon enough—there'd definitely be talk now. Being nice to the half-breed once, on the first day, was one thing; but continued niceness, after it was obvious she should steer clear of him? She was asking to be excluded.

His gut twisted at the thought, mind flashing back to her bright, happy smile. He couldn't let it happen.

Maybe he could still fix it. Maybe, since he hadn't shown that he liked her in any way, the other kids would let it go. Chalk it up to politeness or social ineptness and move on. He just had to stick with his strategy of ignore and evade, and eventually she'd get the hint.

With new resolve, Inuyasha kept ignoring her until the bell rang. She was still sitting against the tree when he jumped down, and she quietly followed him back inside.

The next day, she tried to talk to him in the hallway after classes. He walked past her with a scowl.

The day after, she sat beneath his tree all through recess. For the rest of that day, he noticed that her classmates didn't speak much to her.

The last day of that school week, he thought she'd finally given up. She didn't approach him in the halls, didn't bother him during recess. He went all day without seeing her—which both pleased and bothered him—until he started walking home from school. He'd just left school property when he heard footsteps behind him. He paid them no mind at first, but then her scent drifted to him on the breeze. He frowned and kept walking. The footsteps continued. When she'd been following him at a steady pace for three blocks, he finally turned his head and saw Kagome walking a few paces behind him.

He knew he should follow the plan and ignore her, but he found himself calling back, "What are you doing?"

She didn't answer, but she did start humming.

"Oi," he tried again, "what do you think you're doing?"

The humming just got louder.

He whipped around to face her—walking backwards as he did—and growled, "Hey, you can't ignore me!"

"Why not?" she asked. "You ignore me."

"And yet you're still here."

She nodded. "Yep."

He had no idea what to make of that. "Stupid! Get a clue! And anyway, _I_ have a good reason for ignoring you."

She tilted her head at him. "Oh really? What is it?" Only she didn't sound all that confused. Her tone was eerily like that of a teacher expecting an answer she already knew.

"I—you—" He sputtered, wanting to stick with his plan, but also wanting to yell some sense into her. In the end, his vexation won out. "Don't you get it?" He came to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk, and so did she.

"Get what?" she asked.

"Man, you're the densest person I've ever met. Don't you get that—"

"No," she said, and there was clear frustration in her voice, " _you're_ the densest person _I've_ ever met."

His jaw dropped. "What—"

"I don't think _you_ get it. I don't care what people think. The other kids can say what they want about me. I like you. You're my friend. Why shouldn't I talk to you?"

 _Friend?_

He couldn't do anything but stare at her.

"That's why you've been ignoring me, right? Because they're mean to you, and you don't want them being mean to me, too."

He just stared.

"Right?" she prompted.

Slowly, he nodded.

She grinned. "I knew it. I knew you didn't really mean it."

 _Did she really... friend?_

"Wait," he said, shaking his head, "don't—doesn't it bother you? Don't you get what'll happen if you hang out with me?"

"Yes," she said, "but I don't care."

"You don't..."

"Nope. Don't care."

She couldn't possibly understand, not _really_. He persisted. "They'll ignore you."

"Like you've been doing?"

He scowled. "They'll talk bad about you behind your back."

"They're already doing that."

"They'll make fun of you, maybe even bully you."

"So?"

His hands balled into fists. "So?! You'll be miserable! You won't have any friends! You—"

" _You're_ my friend. I'll have you." At his astonished silence, she continued, "Anyway, who'd want to be friends with them? They're not very nice. I'd rather be with you."

He felt like he'd been punched in the gut. Winded. But in a weirdly good way. And all he could do was stand there like an idiot, staring at her.

"So," she said after a moment's silence, "friends?"

Her expression was calm and friendly and open. The feeling he'd felt when he first saw her crying across the street—a tug, a pull drawing him towards her—came to him again, but far stronger this time.

"Yeah," he said, voice rough. He cleared his throat. "Yes. Friends."

She smiled at him, and he knew then and there that he'd do anything to keep her smiling.


	3. Chapter 3

He protected her from injury. _A lot_.

"Look out!" he yelled, grabbing her by the back of her school uniform and yanking her behind him.

A bright red dodgeball zoomed by in a blur, whistling past where Kagome had been standing just a second before. Going as fast as it was, it would've knocked her flat, and probably left a significant bruise. Not to mention the scrapes she'd have gotten when she landed on the concrete.

Inuyasha glowered across the playground at the kids who'd thrown the errant ball. They looked distinctly nervous to be on the receiving end of that glare. Just as he stepped forward to go give them a piece of his mind (as his mother would say), he felt Kagome's little hand grab his sleeve.

He turned to look at her. She had a huge smile on her face.

"That was amazing!" she cried, "I can't believe you _saw_ that!"

He blinked at her.

"It was going so fast! But you saw it, and you—" she flapped her hands energetically in the direction of the ball, "—and then you—" she gestured at herself, hands still waving, "—and that was _awesome_! You're _amazing_!"

Her eyes sparkled at him, and he completely forgot why he'd been so annoyed.

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"Watch where you're going!" he grumped, flinging his arm across her path—the famous "mom bar" move. She walked right into his arm, a tiny "oof" escaping her lips. She shot a startled glance up from the book she'd had her nose stuck in for the better part of three days, tilting her head at him in question. Scowling, he jerked his chin ahead of them.

She looked. Took in the blinking red pedestrian light across the street, and the cars zipping up and down the road she'd almost stepped into.

Her gaze returned to his, and this time her expression was sheepish. She offered him a weak grin. "Sorry, Inuyasha."

"'Sorry' wouldn't have kept you from becoming a road pancake! You need to pay attention!" He glared at the book in her hand, the one she'd been so obsessed with that she couldn't seem to pay attention to anything else—including where she was walking.

Or _him_ , for that matter. His ear flicked in annoyance.

She widened her eyes into _the look_ and puckered her bottom lip just a little. "Really, I'm sorry! I promise I'll be more careful."

He kept glaring, but his scowl slowly receded, cheeks warming under the grey-eyed attention he'd been denied for the past three days.

"Yeah, well, you'd better," he grumbled.

She smiled. When the pedestrian light turned green, she grabbed his hand and pulled him forward.

Her nose returned to her book, but her hand kept holding his.

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His breath whooshed out of his lungs as her body collided with his torso. The arms he'd been holding out to catch her wrapped around her tiny frame as they both fell back, his butt landing with a loud _thump_ on the ground.

He felt winded for a moment. Once he caught his breath, he looked down to make sure she was okay. She had tilted her chin up to peek at him, and was watching him with contrite eyes. "Oops," she whispered.

He scowled at her. "You okay?" he asked.

She nodded.

With a loud sigh, he unwound his arms and pushed her off his lap. They both stood up, and he said in a voice heavy with irritation, "I _told_ you not to jump from the swing when you're going that high!"

She scuffed the toe of her sneaker against the ground. The chains of the city park swingset were still creaking as its rubber seat swung back and forth, almost high enough to loop over the top pole.

"But the other kids were doing it," she mumbled through a pout.

"The other kids are older than you," he barked. "And some of them are demons. And _none_ of them are as clumsy as you."

"Hey!" she said, "I'm not clumsy!"

"All humans are clumsy."

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're no fun at all!"

He returned the gesture. "Well you're dumb! You could've broken something falling from that high up."

She opened her mouth to argue, then closed it again with a frown. "I wouldn't have," she said, her tone so uncertain it was more question than statement.

"Oh yeah? Why do you think your mom tells you not to jump off the swing?"

She paused at that. Her mom, as far as she could tell, knew everything there was to know about the world, and she _had_ told Kagome not to jump from the swingset... guilt began creeping into her expression.

"Humans are clumsy _and_ weak," Inuyasha continued matter-of-factly, relaxing a little now that she seemed to be listening. "Doesn't take much to break a bone."

She cast a suspicious look at the swing. Then, pout returning, she said, "But it's fun to get up so high. I feel like I'm flying."

He considered her for a moment: noted the longing that had crept into her tone, the unhappy set to her mouth, the way she kept glancing back at the swingset as though it was a cute puppy that had just bitten her unexpectedly.

He glanced around the park. There were some kids scattered around the playground, their parents sitting in clusters on benches on the periphery, but it wasn't too crowded today. He probably wouldn't be noticed much.

Turning his back to the girl, he squatted down and lifted his arms up behind him. "Get on," he said.

"Huh?" He could picture the head-tilt that no doubt accompanied her confused noise.

"Get on," he repeated gruffly.

She hesitated, then slowly looped her arms around his neck. He slung his forearms under her knees and lifted her into piggy-back position. She gave a little squeak of surprise.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he started trotting towards an open grassy area of the park.

He glanced at her over his shoulder. "You wanna feel like you're flying?"

She nodded, expression wondering.

"I'm gonna take you flying, then."

He started speeding up, trot turning to jog, which turned to a run. Once he had his momentum going, he said, "Hold on!" and bent his knees for a jump.

Then they were airborne, sailing up, up, as high as the tree branches. He heard her suck in a breath, and felt her arms tighten around his neck. For a moment, suspended in the air at the peak of the jump, just before the inevitable descent, it really felt like they were flying. Just the two of them, up there with the wind and the tree branches and the clouds. His heart lifted in his chest as if it, too, were flying. He heard her release her breath, the warm puff blowing against his neck.

Then they were falling, and her arms tightened even more, though she didn't make a peep. He hit the ground smoothly, sneakers kicking up a small cloud of dust, knees bending to absorb the impact. Without hesitation he jumped again, higher this time, leaping up and forward through the air. The wind blew through his hair, whistled in his ears.

He heard what sounded like a giggle behind him. He glanced over his shoulder at her, and his heart flew even higher at what he saw: her eyes were huge and bright, face flushed an excited red, dark hair streaming behind her. She locked eyes with him for a moment, and then let out a whoop. "Faster, Inuyasha!" she squealed, her arms leaving his neck to stretch out on either side of her like a bird taking flight. "Faster, faster!"

Grinning, he sped up, and soon they were both whooping and laughing.

He'd make sure she got to fly without ever hitting the ground.

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 **A/N:** Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Just wanted to leave a quick note here to say that the wonderful cover art for this story was drawn by the AMAZING Grapefruit Wannabe. Hope y'all enjoy it as much as I do.


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